follies are a familiar part of the british landcape. often perched high on hilltops they can be spotted for miles around. usually they serve no purpose at all: when lord berner built one he said "the great point of this tower, is that it will be entirely useless". they were often built by victorian nouveau riche industrialists with more money and time than sense. they're often in a state of decay and tucked away behind locked gates and forbidding fences, which of course makes them all the more fun to explore.

this one i drove past today when i was out taking photographs near the village of tong in shropshire. it may or may not have been a dovecote but it was in such a state of disrepair it was difficult to tell...